album: Pumpkin Forever - Pumpkin

Pumpkin Forever is a beacon of light that arose from the ashes of 2016. The San Francisco duo released their debut in December after playing a dozen or so shows around the Bay Area with great locals like Plush, Unity, and The Yellow Dress. This record delivers the same stumbling sincerity as the prettiest hits from bands like Television Personalities and The Clean. But despite these comparisons, Pumpkin’s sound is wholeheartedly and sincerely their own. No one else can replicate the soundtrack to the lives of Rubita Perez and Cinthya Hernandez. It is pure, unapologetic personality and camaraderie.

Simple pop songs with jaw-droppingly good melodies, injecting you with the warmth of finding a note from Mom in your lunchbox. It’s catching your friend’s eye from across the room at a show. It’s the wrapping of arms around each other, before, between, and after. “Talk 2 Me” packs the same emotional punch as the saddest jams off Pavement’s Slanted & Enchanted, songs like “Here” and “Zurich is Stained”. “I Love U” shuffles forward with a simple rubber-band riff, tenderly supporting a confession of love regardless of being hurt. Crunchy honey-dipped ditty “Crushing Along” illustrates its title perfectly, an upbeat garage rock number sung by Pumpkin at the top of their lungs, spilling their guts. Plug your earbuds into your phone and take a walk to the donut shop with Pumpkin Forever.